and Ni'ilin
The Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin have been invaded by the
Israeli military in the early hours of Saturday, 19 December 2009.
Soldiers entered both villages at 2.30am and raided houses of four
families.
For more information:
ISM Media Office: 054 344 2512
Images of art created by Bil'in residents using spent munitions
available on request by emailing palreports@gmail.com.
In Bil’in, five military jeeps carrying about 30 soldiers entered the
village and invaded the house of Yassin Yassin. Family members, woken
up by the armed soldiers at the dark of night, were forced to leave
the house and stand outside in cold and rain. The raid was conducted
in order to arrest Yassin Yassin, wanted for his participation in the
village’s regular Friday demonstrations against the Wall and
settlements. As Yassin was not present in the house at the time of the
raid, the soldiers left a note ordering him to attend questioning at
the Ofer prison. Soldiers then continued to conduct a search in a
second house.
In a similar scenario, the army invaded two houses in Ni’lin,
detaining all family members in one room while searching the houses,
looking for a resident of the village. The only reason the military
had for searching for this young man was his participation in Ni’lin’s
weekly demonstrations.
Sasha Solanas, an American solidarity activist, who was sleeping in
one of the invaded houses, said: "The army raided two Ni'lin homes in
the middle of the night, looking for a villager suspected of
participating in the demonstrations. The recent revival of night raids
is part of a new campaign to quash unarmed demonstrations in both
Ni’lin and Bil'in. The army has used night raids to scare the
villagers into abandoning their just cause."
Owner of second house raided in Bil’in, Wajeeh Burnat, was questioned
by the soldiers about used spent tear-gas canisters and bullets, left
on the village’s land by the Israeli military, who fire them at
demonstrators. In a non-violent act of resistance, residents of the
village collect the used munitions at the end of every demonstration,
using them to create art and to showcase the violence used against
them by the Israeli army. The Israeli military, however, consider such
spent munitions illegal and has recently raised suspicions against a
member of the Popular Committee for their possession.
Mohmmed Khatib, member of the Bil’in Popular Committee said: “The
popular struggle is gaining momentum and its growing achievements both
in Palestine and world-wide put Israel in a position which makes the
military desperate to de-legitimize and stop us. Tonight’s raids are a
part of an escalation in Israeli military’s failed attempts to break
the spirit of the people of Bil’in and Ni’lin, their popular
leadership, and the popular struggle as a whole – aimed at crushing
demonstrations against the Apartheid Wall and settlements built on
land stolen from both villages.”
Recently, Adv. Gaby Lasky, who represents many of Bil’in’s detainees,
was informed by the military prosecution that the army intends to use
legal measures as a means of ending the demonstrations. As a part of
this strategy, the Israeli military investigators used intimidation
techniques to coerce the young boys from the village to testify
against the popular leaders. So far, all three detained coordinators
of the Bil’in Popular Committee were released for lack of evidence,
and, in the case of another member, Mohammed Khatib, the court even
found some of the presented evidence to be falsified.
31 residents of Bil’in have been arrested since 23 July 2009, during a
night raid and arrest campaign conducted by the Israeli military,
targeted at boys accused of throwing stones at the Wall as well as
participants and organisers of the weekly demonstrations. Amongst
those arrested are Adeeb Abu Rahmah, a leading activist from the
village and Abdallah Abu Rahmah, coordinator of the Popular Committee.
Adeeb, who has been detained for over five months, is not suspected of
committing any violence, but was indicted with a blanket charge of
“incitement”, which was very liberally interpreted in this case to
include the organizing of grassroots demonstrations.
